In general, a variety of connector units (connection connectors) have been used for wiring in automobiles or electric devices. As the above connector units, there has been known a multipole connector unit of the type in which a male terminal connector that accommodates a plurality of male terminals in a housing is fitted to a female terminal connector that accommodates a plurality of female terminals in a housing in correspondence therewith. In the automobiles, a large number of electronic components have been used with highly developed electronic control, and because of this, the above-mentioned connector units have been frequently used.
Further, in recent years, hybrid vehicles have received remarkable attention as automobiles small in environmental load, and have come to exude a strong presence in the market. Further, auto manufacturers have accelerated the development so that electric vehicles become widespread, and particularly technical innovations have been rapidly advanced mainly on mounted batteries. In general, the batteries mounted on the automobiles, which have been frequently used, are of the type in which a large number of cells are stacked one on another. In fuel batteries, there is a need to manage a power generation state of each cell in order to early detect abnormal cells, and to achieve the management, a voltage of each cell is detected.
In order to surely detect the cell-voltages in the fuel battery, there is a technique for insuring a connection state between terminals of a cell-voltage detection device and separators of the fuel battery (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1). In this technique, a plurality of plate-like separators are stacked. An output terminal is so shaped as to configure a part of each separator. Those output terminals are arranged at given intervals in correspondence with the stacked arrangement of the separators. Further, a terminal holder is so disposed as to cover a group of the output terminals in a lump, and have a terminal abutted against the respective output terminals and electrically connected thereto. The terminal holder has a pair of legs arranged across a terminal port, and has an elastic body (cushion) on at least one of tips of the legs and a tip of a head. This configuration makes it possible that the elastic body absorbs vibration. Further, the terminal holder holds one ends of terminals between the pair of legs. This configuration makes it hard to displace the terminal holder even if a load is applied to the terminal holder from a terminal cover, as a result of which the terminals are hard to displace.
FIG. 11 illustrates an example of another connector unit 100 used in the fuel battery. The connector unit 100 includes a cell-side connector 300 fitted to a cell V terminal 400, and a plug-side connector 200. When the plug-side connector 200 is assembled, plug terminals 230 each having an electric wire 250 and a wire seal 240 are accommodated into a plug housing 260, and the plug terminals 230 are covered with a plug guide lock 210 and a plug guide housing 220. The cell-side connector 300 includes a cell insulator 330, a fitting seal 320, and a cell front holder 310, and the cell-side connector 300 is attached to the cell V terminal 400.